Game apparatus



.(No Model) T4. 0. MASSEY. GAME APPARATUS.

No. 423,066. v Patented Mar 11, 1890.

n" 'H N u I] n UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

THOMAS C. MASSEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,066, dated March 11, 1890.

Application filed June 1,1889. Serial No. 312,938. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS C. MASSEY, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification,

This invention relates to a device to afford amusement or to serve as a means for the practice of games or contests in skill and steadiness of the hands.

Itconsists, primarily, of a number of perforated blocks or balls and a wire or wires suitably supported in a vertical or inclined position adapted to enter the apertures of the blocks or balls, whereby some object-as, for example, the representation of an animal or a house1nay be built up by the stringing or threading of the balls or blocks upon the wire or wires.

It further consists in the apparatus comprising the apertured blocks, the supported wire or wires, and two small rods or needles, between the ends of which the operator picks at the balls and places them over the wire or wires.

The invention further consists in the apparatus comprising a base or platform provided with a marginal rim and with one or more holes for the detachable insertion of the wires, together with the wire or wires and needles and a number of apertured blocks or balls, and a cover fitted to the rim of the base, so as to form with the base a receptacle in which the loose parts of the apparatus may be contained.

Describing the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a base or platform, a wire resting at its lower end therein, and a series of blocks or balls provided with apertures and strung upon the wire to proximately represent a serpent. Fig. 2 represents the invention applied to the construction of the semblance of a man, the base having two wires inserted therein, upon which are strung the blocks or balls representing the legs and body of a man, and the upper body block having wires inserted therein as a support for a series ofballs or blocks representing the arms, neck, and head. This figure also represents the operator in the act of placing the ball which forms the head of the man upon the central wire of the upper body block by means of the two rods or needles hereinbefore referred to, and illustrates the manner of using said needles for this purpose, being essentially the manner in which the blocks will generally be manipulated by adults as tests of their steadiness of hand and rapidity of movement. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a base of circular shape, but which may be of any preferred form, provided with a marginal band or rim and constituting a receptacle in which one or more of the wires, theneedles, if employed, and a series of apertured balls or blocks may be placed. Fig. 4 is a side View, in partial vertical section, representing a base having a rim and cover, together with a number of balls and other parts of the apparatus inclosed by the base and cover.

A represents a base, which may be of wood, paper, or any other suitable material and of any desired thickness and form. It has one or more holes a, in which a wire or wires may be inserted. If thin; said base may be provided with a fixed block, as'a', OIlrltS upper side, in which the hole or holes'ct areformed.

B is a rim, of anydesired height, applied to the margin of the base; It will commonly be about an inch inheight for an ordinary domestic apparatus. i

0 represents a cover fitting over the rim B, and forming with the latter and the base a covered box of any suitable dimensions.

D represents a wire adapted to be inserted at its lower end in a hole a of the base A, and D D represent wires inserted in blocks, instead of in the base A, for the support of adj unctive parts of the figure or object to be built up.

E E are blocks or balls provided with holes, which in. most cases will extend through them, but which in the case of the terminal hlocksas, for example, the blocks which are to form the head or the hands of a man or animal or the chimney of a house to be represented, or generally which mayform the uppermost or outermost of any article to be constructed-- may have the holes extending only apart of the way through them.

F F represent two small rods, sticks, or needles, which in the best use of the apparatus by adults will be employed in stringing the blocks or balls upon the wires.

The blocks E may have any desired shape and may be in sets intended for the construction of particular objects; but they will commonly have different shapes in the same apparatus to represent different parts of the articles or things to be built up.

No attempt is here made to illustrate all or any considerable part of the number of objects that an apparatus or several apparatuses of this kind may be adapted to form. For the use of children each apparatus may be furnished with many diiferent kinds or forms of blocks, or a single apparatus may have blocks intended more especially for the building up of a single or a limited number of objects, and difierent apparatus having different forms of blocks may be contrived for the construction of more or less widely different objects.

As used by children, the needles or rods F F may or may not be employed. If not, the child will find his amusement in building up the object desired or provided for by placing the balls upon the wires with his fingers; but in the case of adults the needles F F will commonly be used. The manner of this use is illustrated or suggested in Fig. 2-that is to say,'one needle is taken in each hand of the operator at a distance from its end, and these ends of theneedles are then pressed against opposite sides of the block to be lifted and placed upon a wire. This is found to be a Very nice and interesting operation, requiring judgment in selecting the points of bearing or contact between the needles and the block, and skill and steadiness of hand to then lift and carry the block by the needles to the wire upon which it is to be strung, preserving meantime such a position of the block as will allow the orifice thereof to receive the wire.

In building some forms certain of the blocks F Will need to have wires D inserted therein, as shown in the case of the uppermost block of the body in Fig. 2. v

The apparatus may be utilized in games of contest between two or more persons in various waysas, for example, by having two or more apparatuses, one in the hands of each operator, the contest being to determine which of the operators will first build up a given figure. This will be found to be an exceedingly interesting and exciting exercise, inasmuch as under the excitement of the contest a person who may accomplish the work very successfully and promptly at other times may then develop such nervousness as to drop the blocks, which of course entails delay in again picking them up and renewing the attempt to place them upon the wire or wires.

I claimas my invention- 1. The apparatus, essentially as described, comprising a base, a wire or wires inserted or to beinserted therein, a series of apertured blocks or balls adapted to be placed upon the wire or wires, and two rods, bars, or needles to be held by the hands of the operator for the purpose of grasping the blocks or balls between the ends of said needles as a means of lifting them and placing them upon the wire or wires.

? 2. The apparatus, essentially as described, comprising a base, a wire or wires inserted or to be inserted in the base, a series of blocks or balls having holes to permit their application to the wire or wires, one or more of said blocks having holes for the insertion of a wire or wires, and a wire or wires fitted to such holes in the blocks for thereceptio n of other apertured blocks or balls, whereby branched or other composite figures or objects may be built up.

3. The apparatus, essentially as described, comprising a base provided with a rim and provided with one or more holes, a wire or wires adapted to be inserted in said base, and a series of apertured blocks or balls adapted to be contained in the receptacle formed of the base and its rim, and a cover, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

THOMAS C. MASSEY. Witnesses;

M. EZDAYTON,

TAYLOR E. BRowN. v 

